friends, to something more
by champion lyra
Summary: They just hadn't realized it, yet. —DataStormShipping, RyokenYusaku. Mostly Fluff.


**Notes**

I actually had finished this like a week ago, but wasn't feeling the best so I forgot to upload it. Whoops! I'm bad at things, lmao.

Anyways, it's been a while since I've written something in this format! It's still my favorite way to write tbh. This fic isn't all that amazing, just something I worked on in between other things (namely, _be patient, my soul_, and my next big YGO project), but I really had fun writing it; it was very relaxing haha. Hope y'all enjoy reading it!

Prompt table stolen from 10_prompts on LiveJournal!

* * *

i. chocolate

"Here," Yusaku shoved the box into Ryoken's chest, refusing to look at him as he did so. For many years, Yusaku had not given a second thought to the holiday, despite some brave girls attempting to give him chocolate each year. He never accepted and he never put much thought into it - it was just another day for him.

That is, until he finally met Ryoken again in the flesh.

It had not taken long for Yusaku to figure out that he wanted to do something for the older boy, this time around. It wasn't like they were _together - _not really, not like ordinary people were - but all the same, he wanted Ryoken to know he was appreciated. Cared about.

So here they were now, outside of Cafe Nagi like usual, with Yusaku's face getting redder and redder the longer Ryoken stared at him, bright blue eyes wide.

"I - thank you," he finally said, gingerly taking the blue box from him. Surprise was evident in his voice, and for some reason unknown, that brought a small smile to Yusaku's lips.

Ryoken opened the box carefully, eyebrows raising a fraction of an inch at the chocolate inside. They were very clearly homemade; the balls slightly misshapen and the nuts in the chocolate sticking up at odd angles. Miyu had helped him for hours last night, helping him slave over his small apartment's kitchen stove to make something he deemed acceptable for the older boy. Carefully, he brought one up to his mouth, chewing slowly.

Yusaku's stomach felt oddly queasy as he waited, the flush on his face moving to his neck as well. There were a thousand thoughts running through his head - _is it bad? Does he hate it? Is he only accepting it out of obligation?_ \- with no chance of calming them.

"This is delicious," Ryoken said, a hint of _something _in his voice that Yusaku wasn't sure he'd heard before. "I'm sorry I haven't anything to give you."

"I wasn't expecting you to," he said simply; which was true. He hadn't expected anything from Ryoken, who likely didn't even realize the date when he agreed to meet Yusaku at Cafe Nagi. He had likely assumed it to be something about Lightning's whereabouts, after failing to capture him last time.

Ryoken closed the box with care, holding it in his hands like it would break if he gripped it too hard, nodding to Yusaku. "Well, I had expected to be here for a while this afternoon," he confessed, shifting his weight on his feet. "Have you eaten lunch?"

Yusaku shook his head. "Not yet, no."

"Why don't you come get something to eat with me?" Ryoken held out his hand as he asked, his tone leaving little room for argument - though Yusaku wouldn't dream of saying no to him, anyways.

* * *

ii. long distance

"Playmaker? Isn't it late over there?" Ryoken answered, the mild concern in his voice warming Yusaku.

It was, in fact, very late - it was two in the morning, but sleep just wouldn't come to Yusaku that night. It wasn't an uncommon thing for him, but lately, he'd been sleeping easier and easier. He knew exactly why: now that he knew Ryoken was safe, and that the elder Kogami was _gone_, his past no longer haunted him in the same way.

Some nights, however, his eyes wouldn't grow heavy and his mind would stay alert, unable to slow itself down enough for rest. Tonight was one of those nights, and Yusaku was sure it had to do with the fact that Ryoken was out of the country for the week.

"Mm," he replied, already feeling a bit better after hearing the older boy's voice. "Can't sleep. Wanted to see how you were doing."

A shuffle, and a sigh. "I'm fine," Ryoken replied, "but why did you call me? Just to see how I was doing at - probably two in the morning?"

Truthfully, Yusaku hadn't questioned _why_. He couldn't sleep, and upon grabbing his phone from the nightstand, his first thought had been to call him. The implications of what that meant were slowly catching up to Yusaku, and his face flushed at the thought.

"I told you," he said instead, "I couldn't sleep." Part of him wanted to ask him to just _talk_, his voice always having been an anchor for Yusaku; but he didn't want to sound… needy? He wasn't sure. These kinds of things have been lost on him, since the Incident.

Another sigh from the other end of the phone. "I'll humor you," Ryoken said, something that sounded like understanding hidden in his voice. "I'm fine - I just finished up meeting with my mother's side of the family. Do you want me to tell you about that?"

Yusaku nodded, despite just being on voice call. "Yeah," he responded, shifting himself until he was comfortable in his bed again. "Just talk to me."

When Yusaku awoke the next morning, it was with his phone still on his pillow, a text message waiting for him.

_Goodnight_, was all it read, but a rare smile escaped Yusaku all the same at the sight of it.

* * *

iii. i think of you

Ryoken stared, fixated on the new flowers Spectre had planted in the garden. Ever since they had left behind life on the small yacht, Spectre had taken to gardening now that he had the time. Ryoken certainly didn't mind, but today…

"Do you like the wisteria, Ryoken-sama? I just planted them yesterday morning," Spectre asked, moving around the older boy to water them.

"I… yes," Ryoken decided on, though he wasn't sure that was the right answer. He wasn't really one for flowers like Spectre was; the delicacy lost on him. These particular flowers, however, struck a chord within him - one he couldn't quite place. The light purples and blues of the plant were familiar, somehow.

"I thought you would." The sly tone Spectre used instantly set Ryoken on edge, and he eyed the other boy warily.

"Why?"

"It _is _Yusaku's namesake, after all," he explained, smiling in that knowing way of his. "I planted it just for you."

Ryoken narrowed his eyes at Spectre, turning around abruptly. No wonder he had fixated on the plant. He shook his head, walking away from the garden and back into the house, ignoring Spectre's light chuckling.

* * *

iv. sensitive

It had been a total accident. They had been standing on Ryoken's balcony, watching the sunset in peace, when Ryoken moved and brushed against Yusaku's arm. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, really - and yet Yusaku shivered, in a way that had him instantly steeling his face.

"Yusa- Playmaker?" Ryoken tested, watching the younger boy carefully. "Are you alright?"

Yusaku nodded mechanically, pointedly still staring at the ocean that spread out in front of them. Something about it almost made Ryoken want to smile.

Beautiful ocean-side sunset completely forgotten, his eyes were solely on Yusaku now. Testing the waters, Ryoken reached his hand out, fingertips lightly touching his arm again. Again, just as before, Yusaku shivered; this time leaning into his touch a little. It was obviously not a conscious movement, and Ryoken smiled at him; moving his hand gently down his arm until Yusaku's hand was secure in his own.

Yusaku blinked down at their now joined hands after his mind came back to him, turning his gaze onto Ryoken. It occurred to him that he should probably feel at least somewhat embarrassed at how sensitive he was to Ryoken's touch, but looking at the older boy's hand wrapped around his own instead made him feel secure.

"You called me Yusaku," he said, green eyes trained on Ryoken's blue ones.

It was Ryoken's turn to blink. "I don't know what you're talking about," he replied coolly, after taking a sip from the glass he was holding in his other hand. Before Yusaku could respond, Ryoken gave a gentle squeeze to the hand he was holding; instantly stopping any retort Yusaku would've had. "I should do this more often," he mused after a moment.

The feeling made Yusaku's face turn pink, and after a few moments, he squeezed Ryoken's hand back. Ryoken, normally composed, nearly dropped the glass he was holding.

* * *

v. wait, what?

The two of them always seemed to gravitate towards each other. No matter what they were doing, who they were with, somehow the universe always seemed to shrink until it was just the two of them left; alone in the world together.

Obviously, everyone else had already made their assumptions on the current nature of their relationship, due to this. It wasn't an unreasonable conclusion to come to - since the defeat of Lightning, Ryoken Kogami and Yusaku Fujiki had become friends - and that friendship, at this point, had clearly developed into something more.

They just hadn't realized it, yet.

"So," Aoi asked one day on the way to school, "how long have you and Kogami been dating?"

Yusaku balked, hurrying to school his face back to a neutral expression. "What are you talking about?" He replied with an almost audible gulp, heat making its way to his ears without consent.

Aoi was not a terribly observant girl when it came to other people - she had never had many friends, and never particularly cared about what other people thought of her, bar her older brother. However, over the last few years, she had gotten better and better at being able to read her friend's expressions.

Particularly, she could tell how awkward Yusaku had become after she had asked about his relationship status. With a small, mischievous smile, Aoi turned to him as they walked. "Well, aren't you?"

"I really don't know-"

"The two of you go out for dinner often," she held up a finger, cutting Yusaku off smoothly, "you gave him homemade chocolate for Valentine's, you two _hold hands_ all the time-"

Yusaku stomped on ahead of her, aggravated both by her words _and _using his 'three reasons' against him; and Aoi threw her head back laughing.

* * *

vi. decay

It had been awhile since Yusaku burst from sleep, eyes opening wide to greet the darkness with sweat dripping down his neck. Nightmares weren't unfamiliar to him, but it had been months since they had been this bad.

Only difference was the subject matter.

Without really thinking, Yusaku reached for his phone on the nightstand, dialing a number that he had memorized as soon as he had seen it.

"Yusaku?" Ryoken's sleepy voice greeted him. "What's going on?"

Almost instantly, the older boy was on high alert. Yusaku rarely called him this late, only if there was a serious issue happening. His ability to snap himself awake almost rivaled Yusaku's own.

However, this time, as soon as he heard Ryoken's voice… The tension had already started vanishing from his shoulders, and Yusaku shuddered into the phone. "Keep talking," he said, voice still a bit strained. "Please."

"Did something happen?" Ryoken asked instead, the demanding presence his questions usually held completely gone. "I can be there in no less than ten minutes if you need me to. There's no traffic at this time of night."

Yusaku wanted to laugh, but the sound came out as almost a sigh. His dreams that night had involved Ryoken dying, fading from reality as if he had never existed at all - so of course, his first instinct was to hear the older boy's voice. But of course, he didn't want to make this easy for him. He never did. On a good day, it was one of his favorite parts about their relationship.

"Please just… tell me about your day," he said, thinking back to the last time he had called Ryoken at an odd hour in the morning. His voice was still raspy, but the tension had almost bled out in its entirety, which was an improvement.

Through the phone, Ryoken heaved a sigh. "I'm coming over," he said instead. Yusaku could already hear him getting up on the other end of the line. "I'll be there in ten."

A click, and then the line went dead. Yusaku knew he should've felt guilty for waking him up at an ungodly hour in the morning, should've felt guilty that he was leaving the comfort of his bed just to check on him…

He smiled, moving his stiff body out of bed to unlock the door to his apartment. They would both sleep better now, he knew.

* * *

vii. stray

Something Yusaku had noticed, while spending time with Ryoken, was how often women - and even other men - seemed to demand his attention. They could be anywhere, doing anything, and somehow someone would find a way to try and pry Ryoken away from him.

Point in case: they were at a smaller cafe, one that Ryoken had invited him too, and the waitress was completely infatuated with the white haired, older boy.

It wasn't unusual for Ryoken to order for him - despite the frequency of these outings, half the time they went to places that sold foreign food that Yusaku was unfamiliar with; and the other half of the time the menu was often overwhelming for him to look through. He was used to eating hot dogs and whatever was being sold at school for his meals, only picking up the bare necessities of groceries when he needed to.

Due to this, though, the waitress had decided to completely ignore Yusaku. And for some reason, the looks that she was throwing at Ryoken made Yusaku's stomach churn. By the time the food came, he barely had an appetite left.

"Something on your mind?"

Yusaku looked up from pushing food around on his plate at Ryoken, whose face was oddly smug. It wasn't that uncommon to see that kind of look on his face - the older boy still had too much arrogance, most days - but something about it tonight put Yusaku on the defensive. He wasn't really sure _why_, but he shoveled in a forkful of whatever it was he had on his plate into his mouth.

"No," he answered after he'd finished chewing, and hoped that would be the end of it.

However, it wouldn't be Ryoken if he didn't like to make things difficult. "You don't have to worry," he said casually, and Yusaku's eyebrows lifted at his words. "I prefer green eyes." His voice was level, but Yusaku could see the tips of his ears turning red at the admission.

Why Ryoken had chosen to say that was beyond Yusaku - he wasn't even sure what was putting him in such an off mood, honestly; but ignoring the implications of Ryoken's statement was hard, even for him.

"I'm not sure what you mean," Yusaku finally replied after a few moments.

Ryoken chuckled, and somehow, Yusaku's nausea seemed to slip away the longer he thought about Ryoken saying _you don't have to worry_.

* * *

viii. kiss

The idea had crossed Yusaku's mind once or twice. It wasn't something he thought about often, or dreamed about like people in those stupid soap operas that Ai used to be obsessed with did - it was just sometimes, when he and Ryoken were holding hands, or sitting on the couch comfortable in each other's space… Sometimes, Yusaku wondered what it would be like, to feel the brush of his lips against Ryoken's own; to see how soft and warm they were.

The issue, of course, was how ridiculous that idea was. It's not like they were dating, not really. Aoi and just about everyone else had accused them of such, but they had never stated it, never confirmed what their relationship had slowly evolved into. Yusaku had never cared enough to ask, and Ryoken likely thought the same.

Except today.

Today, sitting in Yusaku's cramped apartment together, the urge to kiss Ryoken was overwhelming. He wasn't sure what it was, exactly - the lighting, how particularly _soft _the older boy's lips looked today - but it was an incredibly distracting thought. They were _supposed_ to be working on a freelance programing job that Yusaku had signed up for, for some extra cash. But how was he supposed to focus, when Ryoken was _right there_, sitting at the small kitchen table with his laptop like he'd lived there as long as Yusaku had?

"Yusaku," Ryoken said easily, eyes meeting his over the tops of their laptops, "is there something bothering you?"

Immediately, Yusaku felt his face flush - the burn moving all the way from his cheeks to his ears, painting his whole face a faint red. "No," he replied, taking more care than usual to keep his voice steady. "Nothing is bothering me."

"Oh? Are you sure?" Ryoken's eyes were teasing. "Because if there's something wrong-"

"There is nothing," he ground out, forcing his too-green eyes back onto his computer screen.

Yusaku lasted all of five minutes before his eyes were back, focused on Ryoken's lips. It wasn't even like he _meant _to, it just… kept happening that way. Ryoken looked up with a teasing smirk on them, and something in Yusaku snapped at it.

"Can I kiss you?" Yusaku asked before the older boy had a chance to speak. Being blunt, Yusaku figured, was the only way this was going to be solved. And he really needed to get this code finished.

Ryoken, for all his charm and teasing, burned bright red at the question. He nodded, slowly, blinking at Yusaku as if he had grown three heads.

Shrugging his shoulders, Yusaku got up to stand next to Ryoken. He had never done this before - nor did he really know what he was doing. Part of him almost wished he had paid even the slightest bit of attention to those shows Ai and Roboppy used to watch, just so he could have some semblance of an idea of how to do this. Ryoken was not any help at all, staring at the younger boy with wide eyes and a red face.

Taking a deep breath, Yusaku moved his hands to Ryoken's shoulders. He was sitting, which meant that for once, Yusaku was the taller one. Almost on instinct, they leaned in towards each other, Yusaku's eyes fluttering closed the closer he got to Ryoken.

When their lips finally met, the only thing on Yusaku's mind was how much softer Ryoken's lips were then he'd even thought possible.

* * *

ix. the edge

Since Yusaku had asked Ryoken to kiss him, they had been edging closer and closer into a territory he knew nothing about. Since he was a child, he liked to be prepared; have a full understanding of his situation and what he could do about it, but for something like this it seemed nearly impossible.

For all the reading he could do online, for all the TV shows or YouTube videos he could watch, Yusaku had realized there was nothing quite like the real thing. The _very _real burst of emotions that had taken over the first time they had kissed, or any time after that.

It should've terrified him, but it didn't.

He had never felt unsafe about jumping into anything when the older boy was involved - be it facing his fears of dueling to find him and save him way back when, or even going up against Ignis who had turned their backs on humanity and were threatening to enslave them all. In this case, it was much more mundane, but the point still remained: for whatever reason, despite how scary the concept was, Yusaku felt no fear when it came to Ryoken.

So as they teetered over that imaginary line, little by little, Yusaku allowed himself to open up. He asked to kiss Ryoken, sometimes, when the urge to do so became too strong. They didn't change much, but it was the little things that mattered: sometimes while working, they now sat next to each other instead of across. Light touches became more frequent, more visible - on the shoulder, the smalls of their backs.

Yusaku found that, despite not knowing, he was okay with everything. So long as it was with Ryoken, he would be just fine.

* * *

x. once more

It had come out so naturally that it had taken both of them a moment to process it. It was just a usual day for the two of them; spending the evening eating some take out in Ryoken's living room while they worked on something or another.

And then Ryoken had looked up at Yusaku after he'd been muttering about the code he was working on, and with a fond gaze, told him he loved him.

Yusaku had, for all intents and purposes, completely short circuited.

Ryoken wasn't exactly faring much better - his face had contorted until it finally settled into a blank expression, staring at the wall next to Yusaku's head. Neither of them said anything for what felt like hours; the prolonged silence much louder than the words Ryoken had just spoken.

Those words were something Yusaku had never expected to hear, especially not from Ryoken. It wasn't that he thought the older boy felt nothing for him, but more so that it never felt necessary to say. They had never confirmed their relationship status, despite the fact that they'd kissed, and they'd never spoken about what… what _this _was, what they had become.

And that was alright with Yusaku; he didn't need any grandiose words about Ryoken's feelings or heartfelt confessions. He had spent a decade hoping beyond hope they could meet again, after all. What they had was more than enough for Yusaku, and it always would be.

He couldn't deny, however, how nice it felt to hear him say that out loud.

It took a while, but Yusaku's green eyes eventually met Ryoken's bright blues, and the older boy was awarded with a rare smile. "Say it again," he said, voice quiet.

Ryoken blinked before clearing his throat. "I love you," he told him again, returning Yusaku's small smile. "I'm sorry it took me so long. I'm a bit… inept, at these kinds of things."

Shaking his head, Yusaku inches ever so slightly towards Ryoken, computer on his lap completely forgotten. "You, too," he said instead, still inching closer. "I… love you, too."

The feeling had been bubbling up for a long, long time now. Ever since he had met Ryoken in the flesh, he had felt it - but he pushed it back, with too many other things to focus on. Once they grew to be on better terms, after Lightning's defeat, however, things started changing. They began to see each other more often, and somehow, it had bloomed into _this_. His special person, the one who had saved him, had become far more important to Yusaku than he'd ever thought possible.

Neither of them said anything, and after a few moments, all the tension that had been built up cleared, just like that. Yusaku felt lighter than he had in what felt like his entire life. "Don't apologize," Yusaku continued, after realizing that Ryoken wasn't going to respond yet.

There were so many words he wanted to tell him - that it was okay, that he understood; that he didn't need anything more than what they had been doing before - but even though words didn't come naturally to him, he knew Ryoken would understand all the same.

After a beat, Ryoken nodded, eyes returning to his computer screen. Yusaku did the same, his heartbeat finally starting to slow, but this time with a small smile and a warmth that filled him whole.

* * *

They said those words to each other often, after that.


End file.
